Despite being an integral part of the UPA government and in alliance with the Congress in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee appears to be cosying up to her former NDA colleagues.
After rehabilitating former PM AB Vajpayee and LK Advani’s aide Sudheendra Kulkarni in a railway investments committee, she was all praise for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who she said “knows railways better than I.”
The ostensible reason for Kumar’s visit to Rail Bhavan in New Delhi was to hand over a memorandum to Banerjee over certain pending railway projects in Bihar and handing over of some railway land for road construction. But that was not all that was said.
Banerjee declared that she was ready to concede Bihar’s demands, as Nitish Kumar knew railways better than she did. Kumar, too, was lavish in his praise of the railway minister.
“I came here to congratulate Mamata Banerjee for a great budget after the mismanagement by Lalu Prasad in the past,” he said. Banerjee also agreed to a state-level monitoring mechanism to consult the state government for all railway projects in Bihar.
Sources say that the mutual admiration society between the former colleagues in the Vajpayee government is significant as both are trying to carve an independent status for themselves in their respective states. “Both are also trying to grow while keeping other forces at bay in their respective states,” a source in the Trinamool Congress said.
Kumar’s praise for Mamata is also significant as it signals that he is not trying to cosy up to the Left or third front formations and would like a Naveen Patnaik-like situation where he is an independent operator. Banerjee is also turning out to be a canny political operator in Delhi much to the Congress’ discomfort.
